SPF (spray polyurethane foam) insulation applied in a commercial or residential building is an amazing but costly construction product. One reason is that application of SPF insulation requires large investment capital equipment and a specialized crew for each job. The work is further made difficult because interface with the complex plural component machine (proportioner) is not possible from the location where the work is being performed (where the applicator and spray gun are.) We worked to solve this problem by designing a wireless system to communicate with the proportioner at the point of use (POU) where we are spraying. We designed the system to interface with all proportioner brands used by contractors keeping the user interface and majority of components standard for all. The applicator can now efficiently interact with his equipment and make smart strategic decisions on-demand. Using our system, the average applicator can improve his productivity by 13-17% per job.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A local wireless communication system comprising of: a) an electronic processor and a graphical user interface display allowing for viewing and modification of operating parameters of a fluid applicator system capable of pumping two or more fluids; b) a software application allowing said viewing and modification to be done from inside a smart spray foam respirator mask using an internal projection display and a selector switch communicating using personal area network technology; c) a communication gateway to interface with corresponding proportioner network protocol and/or directly to analog transducers, thermocouples, flow meters and temperature controllers; d) an access point providing a wireless local area network connection based on IEEE 802.11 technology; and e) an interface to an optical depth sensor located within the smart spray foam respirator mask and used to scan a three-dimensional surface to record a three-dimensional map of a sprayed polyurethane foam surface.
2. The local wireless communication system according to claim 1 with added functionality of a physiological vitals monitoring system whereby sprayer vitals and calculated performance levels are visible inside the smart spray foam respirator mask.
3. The local wireless communication system according to claim 1 where said software application can run on multiple operating systems.
4. The local wireless communication system according to claim 1 where the access point is connected to a cloud database via a cellular hot spot for upload capability of historic and live parameter data.
5. The local wireless communication system according to claim 1 where the smart spray foam respirator mask includes local 2-way radio communication with other crew members on site using personal area network technology.
6. The local wireless communication system according to claim 1 where the smart spray foam respirator mask includes smart functionality of mapping a progression log of a sprayer's workday.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
February 26, 2018
October 1, 2019
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